Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Mouthful of chocolate.Not really sure what she's supposed to be doing here...This picture deserved to be posted, merely because of the demon cat in the background.The girls opening a present together.I just wanted to show everyone Rob's mad wrapping skills. He wrapped my present on one side, and left the edges open. Needless to say, I knew exactly what I was getting :)Pictures of our living room after Santa came...2009 definitely gave us a run for our money (or lack thereof). We went through two employers, a period of self employment/unemployment, had a baby, postpartum depression, sick kids and no health insurance. But boy have we learned a lot. There's nothing quite like trials to teach us to be humble, faithful, and trusting. Here we are, almost January, and things are looking extremely well for us now. Rob has a great job, we're all healthy, in love, we have a wonderful home, and plenty to eat.The latest thing to celebrate would definitely be Rob's new job. We had been unemployed for about four months, and had enough money to make one more mortgage payment until we would be living in a cardboard box. Rob got this job and his first paycheck, just in time for Christmas on December 23rd. So yes, we were those crazy people at the mall on Christmas Eve picking up a few gifts for our girls. So although it has been scary at times throughout this past year, we have been extremely blessed and we hope that 2010 will bring more stability and less stress.

This girl couldn't be more of a joy. Little Ava is always smiling, and although some people may think she doesn't like them, it's just because she is so shy and truly a sweet spirit....but not the ugly girl kind. She's really cute too.Jocelyn is a mini-photographer these days. We have a lot of carpet and ceiling pictures, but I thought about making her a scrapbook anyway, to hold her artistic photographs in. I think she'd like that later on.Ava eating cheese.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

This post will probably be the most random of my posts as of yet. And that's sayin' something. It's been a while, though, so I thought I'd post a bunch of pictures and just update y'all on the various things that have filled our lives since the last time I posted. This first picture is of Ava being a humming bird.Jocelyn may hate me for posting this later, but for now she's pretty proud of herself. She's officially potty trained on #1. We're still working on #2. But that only means I have to change usually one pull up a day from her. I'm so stinking proud of her. And when I say stinking, I do mean stinking. Because like I said...we're still working on #2.Teeth! These pictures were taken a while ago, so she now has two more teeth than what show in this picture. And let me tell ya. Teething has not been kind on us. Whiny baby galore. The funny thing is, is that before getting the top front teeth, her fangs on both sides on the top have grown in. Vampire baby!We have grass! And it only took a year and 1/2 for them to put it in. Now that the weather is cold, we can sit inside and watch the snow kill it until next spring. Thanks a lot HOA. You're awesome. This picture is taken by my dear Jocelyn. Every time she has the camera in hand, we're always ducking our heads to try to include them in the picture. Needless to say, we have a lot of crotch pictures. Kinda hilarious, but I decided to post one of her better ones. So this is me and Ava enjoying one of the last warmish days out on the back deck.Rob has decided to take up cooking. He's made us various things, usually involving some sort of potato, but in this case, he made some delicious burritos. Yum. He puts way more effort into his meals than I do mine, since I usually wait until 4:45 to even think about what to cook. In most cases, the meat is still in the freezer, so I pull out the bisquick and we have pancakes for dinner. Who doesn't love breakfast for every meal? Anyhow, Rob's cooking is quite delicious. If I do say so myself :)Jocelyn reading the funnies with Dad. She likes Garfield. If you look really close, I think the newspaper she is holding is upside down. :)Ava is trying so hard to crawl these days! Maybe it's her gargantuan (spelling?) thighs that prevent her from actually taking off, but she is ever so close. Ready or not, Mom. Ready or not. I suppose that will be all for now. I have a billion more pictures from halloween and going to a corn maze, but who's to say if those pictures will ever make their way to the blog. I promise nothing. :)

Monday, November 9, 2009

hWe all dressed up this year (at my insistence!) and we all looked so freaking cool. Jocelyn was tinker bell, so naturally Rob dressed as Captain Hook to go along with her theme. And Ava was a spider, so I thought dressing up as a good ol' fashioned halloween witch would go along with her theme. We spent the evening taking Jocelyn around the neighborhood and visiting the grandparents. At some yummy chili and cornbread, and WAY too many sweets. A good time all around :)

Monday, October 5, 2009

We have a great neighbor who runs a small preschool with her son and a few other kids on the block, and she invited Jocelyn to join! It's very low-key, and if they're having more fun playing then the teacher doesn't force the lessons, but so far Jocelyn has loved it! They practiced the letter "J" for Jocelyn's first day. The teacher is very impressed with her, and though Jocelyn is the youngest in the class, she keeps up just fine with the other kids. The teacher said to me, "She's so smart! I was just amazed!.....but you probably already knew that." Yes. Yes I did. :) But at least now I know it's not a biased opinion!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Last weekend we had a little three day vacation to St. George. It was SOOOOOOoooo nice! We were able to spend some time with the fam down there and it was really good to see everyone. We hiked around Snow Canyon a bit and found a baby tortoise! (which I will post a picture of later on). It was nice and hot, too, so we spent plenty of time by the pool at our hotel. The girls did great and we all had a lot of fun. We will definitely be doing this again....and hopefully sooner than later.

Friday, August 21, 2009

These pictures were long overdue, and after over a year of living in our home, we finally have pictures on the walls. :)

What else is new? Hmm....Well, Rob and I started a workout/nutrition program called P90X. It is 90 days of intense diet and an hour of workout everyday. We took our "before" pictures and all our measurements, so when we're done with the program (in....85 days), we'll post our before and after pictures. We're excited!!!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Things are looking up. My life is still definitely crazy, but at the moment I feel like things are under control. Jocelyn is napping, Ava is cooing sweetly, and my house is not a complete wreck...just a little wreck. :) AND!!! We're planning on going camping this weekend, just up the canyon for an overnighter, with my parents. So that's something to look forward to. Joc and I went swimming the other day and had a lot of fun. Rob has had a bit of a slow down at work, so he has been able to at least spend his evenings with us, which has been amazing. Last weekend was the first weekend in forever that he's had off of work and it was a really good weekend. So yes, things are much better...or at least I just seem to be handling it better. Which is the most important thing after all, right?

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Lately Rob has had to work a lot of crazy hours. Like, he starts working at 8:00, stops for dinner at 5:00, and then starts back up around 7:00 and works until 2:00 a.m. It has been super hard on all of us because not only does Rob have to pull crazy hours, but I do too, and that means the girls get a crabby mom, which only encourages the two year old to misbehave and the baby to want to be held every second of her life or else she will make that really annoying fake crying noise. Today I think that my hormones had had enough. My house was a wreck, and I was just not being a good mom. I think the girls needed a break from me as much as I needed one from them. I cried and then I realized it was stupid to cry, when I have family who would be more than willing to help out. I am amazingly good at not asking for help, but today I did it (be proud). My mother in law was a major sanity saver today. I had three hours between Ava's feedings to do whatever the crap I wanted. So what did I do? Well, I thought about doing some laundry, maybe some dishes, vacuum a floor or two. You know, the things I probably should have done, but at the same time I do not regret the decision I made to ignore those things completely. I called up my Grandma, who let me have her backyard swimming pool all to myself. That's right. I laid in the sun and spent some time to myself. The best part was going under the water and listening to nothing. Not a bird chirping, a car driving by, or even a tantruming toddler. It was amazing. Later on Rob's mom told me that I need to start calling on her more often. I think I might just do that. I'm going to try really hard to not let things get so bad that I break down and cry, just like my kids do when they don't get their way. This is my new goal. I'm going to start asking for help when I need it. Because I do need help with my kids, I do need help with my laundry, and I do need help so that I can just spend some time doing nothing. So watch out, world. 'Cause Miggy's getting her way.

About Me

Hi there! My name is Miranda Leigh Merrell, but you can call me Mig. I'm a stay at home mom and, yet, another mom-blogger. My interests are many, and this blog is my creative outlet. From kombucha to crafting to emotional mommy-melt-downs, this is where I will share whatever it is I learn from whatever it is I do.